Author Topic: Rowan/Mountain Ash warp  (Read 4971 times)

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Offline SLIMBOB

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Re: Rowan/Mountain Ash warp
« Reply #15 on: October 09, 2016, 03:01:57 pm »
Just someplace in doors and dry.  The central air in my home leaves the RH low.  41% right now.  Too close to a heat source when it's wet can cause some woods to check rather badly.  Do as you mentioned but don't put it near a heat source until it's lost some moisture first.  Some white woods need to dry slowly, very slowly at first.
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Chris3kilo

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Re: Rowan/Mountain Ash warp
« Reply #16 on: October 09, 2016, 03:18:44 pm »
All right. Thanks !  :)

mikekeswick

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Re: Rowan/Mountain Ash warp
« Reply #17 on: October 10, 2016, 04:12:02 am »
You can dry your fraxinus quickly after it has lost intial moisture. It will make a good bow. read up on back trapping as it will really make a big difference.
Rowan....it is darn near impossible to get a read on the grain in Rowan. It will make a fine,durable bow for certain. I've made a few with it but that grain is a "$^(&^%! I can read the grain on any other tree we have growing here but Rowan....nope...no chance. If you want to use Rowan you just have to cut it, split it and then find out. I've actually used Rowan for my last two hornbow cores because it is out closest tree to Acer Saccarum (property-wise). To find those perfectly straight untwisted trees took some work! As mentioned before you need to look in the middle of dense patches of young trees or in deep valleys - it will grow straight if you are lucky.

Chris3kilo

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Re: Rowan/Mountain Ash warp
« Reply #18 on: October 10, 2016, 07:12:22 am »
Thats great advise Mike thanks. But trapping the back? Does that mean backing the bow? I'd rather not, I think a clean selfbow looks better and i'm only aiming for 40lbs 30". Isn't that doable without backing?
About rowan I'll continue the search then. The rowan bows I've seen looks really great too

Offline loon

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Re: Rowan/Mountain Ash warp
« Reply #19 on: October 10, 2016, 07:39:31 am »
Trapping the back means you make the back narrower than the belly, you can search, it's been mentioned here somewhere...

Chris3kilo

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Re: Rowan/Mountain Ash warp
« Reply #20 on: October 10, 2016, 12:09:43 pm »
Okay I'll try to search it again. :)

mikekeswick

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Re: Rowan/Mountain Ash warp
« Reply #21 on: October 11, 2016, 03:45:59 am »
No problem and no it is not like backing it is like the opposite! Essentially you are making the limb a trapezoid in cross section, with the back narrower than the belly. A natural crown will do the same thing but ash is so strong in tension that if you don't do it you will get more set than is necessary.

Offline Frodolf

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Re: Rowan/Mountain Ash warp
« Reply #22 on: October 12, 2016, 05:23:10 am »
I live in Sweden so I know exactly the type of rowan you're talking about. I actually took one down this weekend. It can be absolutely straight and still be twisted wildly underneath the bark. I haven't found a way to tell the grain from looking at the bark. It often also varies in a trunk – the grain can be straight for a couple of feet, twist some, then straight again, then twist the other way... What I do is I carefully cut the bark off in small patches and look at the actual wood. You can see the fibers if you look closely. If the first patch reveal twisted grain, move along. If it's straight, cut another patch perhaps a couple of feet from the first and have a look. Repeat till you've made sure the entire thing has straight grain.

Rowan is strong in tension, it's weakness is compression. So take you time to dry it well, then it'll be stronger in compression. I think it would work well with a MC of about 7 %. It does sometimes crack on me when drying it too fast in the beginning, so cut/split it as thin as possible (1-1,5" or so, depending of what kind of bow you're hoping to make), debark it, glue the ends, and let it sit under roof outdoors or in cool basement or such for a month, then you can take it indoors. 

Chris3kilo

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Re: Rowan/Mountain Ash warp
« Reply #23 on: October 13, 2016, 01:01:01 am »
Thanks for the answer Frodolf I will try that method. So there is hope for Rowan. Went out to the woods  yesterday and found a nice piece that looked straight. In the process of cutting it down it got dark and I sawed my thumb  real deep and bad! So with blood pouring all over and a treetrunk under my arm i ran for the car. After 10 minutes i realized I was going the wrong way. What a nightmare  ;D found the car eventually and put on a bandage. The rowan better be worth it! Haha.